Sharmar Mohamed Hassan doesn’t know the words in English to describe his bicycle. So he uses his native language, Somali, to tell me it’s a green road bike. And it’s his primary form of transportation in Austin — which, at times, can be a little touch-and-go. “I’m feeling afraid because there’s no bike lanes and […]
November 2016 elections
Posted inTransportation
Poll: 56 percent favor big bond election
Of the 1,200 Austinites polled about a proposed $720 million transportation bond election, 56 percent said they would vote in favor of such bonds if asked to do so in November. Thirty-six percent indicated that they would vote against such a proposal and 8 percent said they were unsure. Littlefield Consulting conducted the poll of […]
Posted inRoads
The mayor’s bond proposal is the “Smart Corridor Resolution.” So, what makes a street smart?
Cars, buses and trucks idle at the four-way intersection at Guadalupe Street and West Dean Keeton Street. A horde of prospective students takes to the crosswalk, the timer counting down. Traverse this intersection long enough and you might soon understand its varied pains: lights that are never green long enough and minimal crosswalks for a […]
Posted inTransportation
Council direction on bonds still unclear
Both Mayor Steve Adler and City Council Member Ann Kitchen have come up with new versions of their proposals for a transportation bond election in November. Adler’s revised proposal would still request voter approval to sell $720 million in general obligation bonds and is still called the “Go Big Corridor Plan.” Kitchen, who has complained […]
Posted inTransportation
With funding still in question, Council approves sidewalk plan update
City Council last week gave nearly unanimous approval to an update of the 2009 Sidewalk Master Plan. The 9-0-1 vote comes in the middle of the ongoing debate over a small batch of mobility bond proposals that could go before voters this November. “Forty years ago, people were not demanding sidewalks,” Council Member Pio Renteria […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: It’s about mobility, apparently
Pods, people… City Council’s ongoing discussion about potentially visiting upon voters this November a massive mobility bond has drawn from the woodwork advocates of just about every different mode of transportation. A public hearing during last Tuesday’s Mobility Committee meeting saw more than 30 different speakers attempting to impress upon Council members the need to […]
Posted inTransportation
Big doubts loom over Adler’s big bond
With just one more regular meeting before its July break, City Council appears far from reaching any clear consensus on dueling mobility bond proposals. “Essentially, what we’re all struggling with is a balance,” Council Member Ann Kitchen told her colleagues on Thursday evening. “There’s obviously huge needs for transportation across the city.” It was the […]
Posted inTransportation
Mobility Committee balks at Adler’s bond recommendation
In the race among the growing list of proposals for a November bond referendum, City Council’s Mobility Committee jockeyed into the lead on Tuesday evening a dark-horse recommendation. With a vote of 4-0, the committee endorsed Council Member Ann Kitchen’s $300 million proposal, which she unveiled to little fanfare on Council’s online bulletin board on […]
Posted inTransportation
Council members float mobility bond alternatives
Three members of City Council have floated two separate alternatives to Mayor Steve Adler’s $720 million mobility bond proposal. On Monday, Council Member Ann Kitchen’s office posted on the Council Message Board a draft resolution for a significantly pared-down vision of Adler’s plan to fund projects on several of the city’s significant corridors and regional […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Cactus Rose, mobility plans and… Benghazi?
Communicant bounced from “kangaroo court”…Something unusual happened at Travis County Commissioners Court last week. For the first time in months, the weekly segment of the agenda set aside for public communications was actually taken advantage of by residents with specific county-related concerns. The room was filled with palpable awe when, one after another, three separate […]
Posted inTransportation
Planning Commission wants bond to focus on car alternatives
It’s far from clear if Austin voters will end up approving any mobility bond, let alone the $720 million measure floated by Mayor Steve Adler. But if the city does get the nod from voters for a once-in-a-generation increase in transportation spending, it should be prepared to spend a big chunk of that money on […]
Posted inTransportation
Light rail proposal joins mobility bond discussion
As City Council members careen toward their first chat with the public over a potentially massive mobility bond, a new proposal for light rail investment has risen up from the grassroots. On Thursday, the nonprofit Central Austin Community Development Corporation announced that it had shared with Council members its vision for a 5.3 mile, $397.5 […]